Even if you're little you can do a lot

Day: February 6, 2017

Is kindness something we teach? Is it something we hone in our children? Is it something which children have to come to themselves?

Whatever you believe, you need to foster a kind school, a kind classroom and kind children as best you can. Children learn from those around them. Children learn from us. If we aren’t kind then how are they supposed to know? We model everything else (in our literacy lessons, maths lessons, PE lessons) so why do we not put such a focus on modelling behaviour? BUT WE DO, I hear you say. Yes, you’re right we do. But we don’t point it out that THIS IS KIND or that THIS IS POSITIVE. We tend to point out negatives WAY FASTER.

A while back I noticed on the Twinkl Blog (2 Twinkl posts in one day, I’m not being paid by them I promise! Ha) that they are starting what they call “The Great Twinkl Kindness Week” and I think this is a great idea. (You’ll find that blog postherewith loads of information about Kindness Week!) I know as a school we are working on fostering kindness and we are going to try and work proactively on kindness in school this coming week. There is a whole raft of ideas in that blog post with links to resources (such as a kindness week assembly, kindness week stickers, kindness worksheets… EVERYTHING you can think of) and schools who take part are encouraged to put the logo on their website to show they are actively trying to promote kindness in schools.

Obviously kindness is something we want to promote all year all around but raising the attention of children to their positive behaviour can only be a good thing, right? I certainly can’t wait for next week, for my school to be taking part. I can’t wait to secretly be kind, to do something for those people who are always kind to me. To model kind behaviour for the children. To try and get them to copy. To make school a kinder place. I think this is a good step in that direction… and hopefully it will last much longer than a week!

Did you know?

– doing kind things activates parts of the brain that make you feel happy.– kindness helps people feel that they belong and helps to reduce bullying.– kindness can help concentration, as the good chemicals are released in the brain.– kindness increases our sense of well-being.

Let me know if you’re taking part in Kindness Week too! It would be lovely to know what you’re doing in your school to promote kindness – either next week or just ever!